FIRST Chesapeake Knowledgebase

5. OBS Plugin Devices

4 min read

Contents

Downloading the Plugin
Installing on Windows
Claiming a Pairing Code
Paired Devices
Revoking a Device

The OBS Plugin page is open to every member of your Client, and anyone can download the plugin.
Pairing and revoking devices need Client Admin: other members see + Add Device dimmed and
”🔒 Needs Client Admin” in place of the devices table.

Downloading the Plugin

The top of the page shows a card, “CHS Streaming plugin for OBS” — “See stream status and controls
for a live event right inside OBS Studio.”, with a Download for Windows button that always
fetches the current release. Send this page to your operators, or download the installer yourself
and pass it along.

Under the button, the page shows one of:

  • “Latest version: vversion” — the release the button downloads.
  • “Checking for the latest release…” — while it looks the release up.
  • “No plugin release is currently available.” — the button is greyed out.
  • An error message explaining why no release can be fetched right now (the button is greyed out, and
    hovering it shows the same text). That’s a system-admin-side release issue, not something to fix
    from this page.

System admins can set a minimum plugin version; a plugin older than that is told to update. Operators
update by downloading and running the latest installer (see
OBS Plugin Guide).

Installing on Windows

The same notes are on the page under “Installing the plugin on Windows”:

  • Install OBS Studio first, in its default folder (C:\Program Files\obs-studio). The installer
    refuses the Steam version of OBS, or an OBS installed in a folder your Windows user can write to.
  • Close OBS before installing or uninstalling the plugin.
  • The installer asks for administrator rights (a Windows UAC prompt) and installs the plugin for
    every Windows user on the computer.
  • The installer isn’t code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen warns when you download or run it. Choose
    “Keep” in the browser, then “More info” › “Run anyway”.
  • Reinstalling or repairing OBS removes the plugin. Run the plugin installer again afterwards.
  • Upgrading from 1.1.x removes the old per-user copy automatically, and your pairing is kept.
  • Pairing is per Windows user, so each Windows user who runs OBS pairs their own copy.

Claiming a Pairing Code

When an operator opens the CHS Streaming dock in OBS, it shows them a short pairing code (see
OBS Plugin Guide).
To claim it:

  1. Click + Add Device. The Add Device dialog opens.
  2. Enter the code into Pairing Code (placeholder ABCD-EFGH) and click Look Up. If the code
    doesn’t exist or has expired, you’ll see “Could not find that pairing code”.
  3. Before pairing, review the identifying details the lookup shows you — Machine, Platform, OBS
    Version, Plugin Version, Requesting IP, Requested (time), and Code Expires — so you know it’s the
    device you actually expect, not someone else’s.
  4. Optionally fill in Label (optional) (e.g. “Field 1 Laptop”) — this is what shows in the
    devices table and to the operator in the dock; leave it blank and it just shows as “OBS Plugin”.
  5. Click Pair Device. Until you’ve looked up a code, the button stays disabled (tooltip “Look up
    the pairing code first”).

Pairing codes expire — if a lookup fails because the code expired, have the operator reopen the dock
for a new one.

Paired Devices

The Paired Devices table lists each device with its Label, Platform, Version
(plugin version, or ”—” if unknown), Paired (when it was claimed), Last Seen (last
heartbeat, or “Never”), Token Expires, and Status (Active/Revoked). With no devices yet it
reads “No OBS plugin devices paired yet.” There’s no manual “refresh” action for Last Seen — it
updates on its own as the device checks in. There’s also no way to rename a device after pairing; if
you need a different label, revoke it and pair it again with the label you want.

Revoking a Device

Click Revoke on an active device’s row. The confirmation is titled “Revoke device?” and reads:

Revoke “label”?

Its token will stop working immediately — the operator will need to pair it again.

A revoked device can’t be silently reactivated — the operator has to pair it again from scratch
(a fresh pairing code from the OBS dock) to get a new device entry. Do this for any computer that’s
retired, lost, or no longer trusted.

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